DOMINIC Raab has insisted that crashing out of Europe in the middle of a global pandemic will “avoid more uncertainty”.

Responding to a question from the SNP’s Ian Blackford in the Commons, the First Secretary of State said the coronavirus outbreak meant the right thing to was to “double down” on negotiations and get a deal by the end of this year.”

The Tories are determined that Britain will leave Europe by the end of the year. The date has been enshrined in law – though could easy be unpicked if the political will was there.

The Brexit transition period can be extended for one or two years, but only if both sides agree by July 1, just nine weeks away.

Last week the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said talks had made “limited progress”.

Yesterday, Blackford accused the Government of “shamefully gambling our economic future with a no-deal Brexit in the middle of a health emergency”.

He asked Raab – who was standing in for Boris Johnson at Prime Minister’s Questions – why the Government were “threatening to isolate our economy at the end of the year during the biggest economic crisis of our time”.

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The Foreign Secretary said Blackford shouldn’t take Barnier’s “word on the state of progress in negotiations quite as readily and as uncritically”.

“Let us be very clear: our position is unchanged. The transition period ends on December 31 – that is enshrined in law and there is no intention of changing that.

“Given the uncertainty and the problems and challenges that coronavirus has highlighted for us and our European friends – and I have worked extremely closely with our German, French and all our other European partners – we should focus on removing any additional uncertainty, do a deal by the end of the year and allow the UK and the European Union and all its member states to bounce back as we come through coronavirus.”

The SNP Westminster leader said the best way to remove uncertainty was “put a stop to those talks”. He added: “The First Secretary’s failure to rule out a no-deal Brexit should alarm us all.”

Refusing to “admit the inevitability of an extension” was not, Blackford said, “a tough or clever negotiating tactic, but a reckless and foolish gamble”.

Raab said of Blackford: “The right thing for us to do is to double down and get a deal by the end of this year. If his desire is for us to dig ourselves out of the economic challenges that we, the European Union and the world face, the answer is not to engage in protectionism but to do this deal and give a shot in the arm to businesses on both sides of the channel. That is what we are wholeheartedly focused on doing, and we are doing it as one United Kingdom.”

New fears of a no-deal Brexit have been sparked in recent days after the Tory Government rejected calls for a permanent EU office in Northern Ireland.

Under the withdrawal agreement negotiated and signed off by Boris Johnson, Northern Ireland must follow EU single market and customs rules.

That protocol says that UK officials are responsible for implementing EU law, but that EU officials have the right to be present during any activities related to putting it into practice.

Europe says the office would staffed by vets and customs experts to make sure EU standards were being upheld.

But Michael Gove told fellow MPs it was a “mini embassy”.

North Belfast MP John Finucane said those comments were “provocative and deeply unhelpful at a crucial period in Brexit negotiations”.

“The protocol for negotiations state clearly that the EU has a right to be physically present to oversee the implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement,” he said.

“There is an onus on the British Government to facilitate this presence.

“The British Government should cease playing futile games and instead place their efforts into constructively engaging in a robust negotiation that respects the protections.”

Last week Barnier accused the UK of not engaging with key issues.